Ye Olde Cider Bar

Allow me to first apologise to Karys for not blogging in nearly a week. I’m sorry.

So, last saturday, I caught up with my 2 best friends from primary school, Sam and Phil. A few days beforehand, we were in the Lime Tree pub when Sam suggested a visit to this place in Newton abbot that exclusively sells cider and wine. Well, you know how we love our cider here in Devon, so how could we resist?

One short train ride and a few ‘your mum’ jokes from Phil later, and we were there. It was a strange place. It had been around for decades. It had old wooden tables, and stone floor. There were tankards and cider mugs hanging from the ceiling, kegs all over the place and the trademark guy with a beard sat at the bar. Well, needless to say we all got ID’d before we had even had a single drink or even approached the bar. We had a look around first, and to our surprise we found the most retro arcade game I have seen since the 90s. There was actually a genuine teenage mutant ninja turtles platform game. 4 player, joysticks and buttons, and it costs 20p (of course). We decided we would play it later after a few pints of cider because it would be funnier.

So, the bar. Sam ordered a pint of “Sam’s medium”. Phil followed suit. I had a quick scan down the menu on the wall, and instantly decided on “Suicider”… When I ordered it at the bar, the bartender simply raised her eyebrows and said good luck! I have to say, it was delicious. Very appley, a nice dark clear and not too fizzy 8% cider. Delicious. However, I did start to lose my peripheral vision after just one pint. It was funny, this place had been around for so long, there were pictures on the wall of previous regular customers who have passed away. I mean, all of the pictures were black and white, and some of them were even world war one pilots with nicknames like ‘Flicker’… I had a quick scan around the pub and realised how upset those pilots would be if they knew that the place was full of teenagers now, even serving behind the bar.

After two pints, we headed in search of food. We walked for 5 minutes and walked past 6 pubs. I was then informed by Sam that Newton abbot has the most pubs per capita. It made sense, there was a pub across the road from another pub- which was next door to another pub.

We ended up in a chip shop. Phil ordered a portion of chips. (Phil Murphy- take note of the practical use of the word ‘portion’ in this situation. I am pleased to inform you that he subsequently received a ‘portion of chips’)

I ordered a burger. Some drunk men were in there as well. One of them made fun of my purple shoes, calling them ‘pumps’. Another told Phil he should get a haircut. This man was bald, so we thought this was funny. Phil also pointed out to me that the one who insulted my shoes had a chip stuck to his trousers, so we had the moral high ground in our minds. (Yes Phil Murphy- just a singular chip)

So we headed back to the cider bar. I had another 3 pints of Suicider, Sam had a few as well, and Phil chose the sweetest cider they had. He later said it had ‘a bitter aftertaste.’ What? We played a few rounds of Teenage mutant ninja turtles too, and that was hilarious.

All in all, ye olde cider bar is a definite winner. I would recommend it to others if you like cider, but hate that chav juice they call “strongbow”.